African American History Forum

The history of Perry County could have been posted on many of the AfriGeneas forums. It’s not only a history, which includes the Civil War, but includes genealogical information, too.

I thought of B.J. when I read Bertis Deon English’s dissertation from Auburn University is entitled “Civil Wars and Civil Beings: Violence, Religion, Race, Politics, Education, Culture, and Agrarianism in Perry County, Alabama, 1860-1875.”

The abstract to English’s dissertation says, “In Perry County, black agency, or self-help, thrived on the heels of the Civil War. Interestingly, a principal factor to black Perry Countians’ self-help was the tremendous antebellum concentration of white educational and religious institutions in the county seat, Marion, a phenomenon that softened local whites and became a model for black liberation and biracial cooperation. In a region where political- and race-based violence was widespread between 1860 and 1875, hostility was noticeably slighter in Perry. Consequently, it became one of the most progressive counties in Alabama during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and early Redemption periods.”

This is a phenomenal study of black life in Alabama, which reports on this catastrophic American era, and connects the names and histories of people who lived in the real-time of 1860 to 1875.

Bertis English includes an important group of Appendices that will expand the knowledge of Perry County and Alabama family researchers. For instance, Appendix H lists African Americans who held major offices in Alabama from 1867 to 1875. It lists their name, county, nativity, birth year, and post war occupation. Also of interest are the names of black business owners (Appendix Q).